Canada’s latest rising pop star, Olivia Penalva returns with the release of her official lyric video for her beat lead single “Ex’s” two months after its release. Since then, it has racked up over 148 thousand streams on Spotify where she has 125+ thousand monthly streamers. The official single release followed her recent Top 20 hit “Love Me” and two Western Canadian Music Award (WCMA) nominations for Pop Artist of the Year and Breakout Artist of the Year.
Part of a collection of songs that Penalva has been crafting with some of the music industry’s top writers and producers over the past year,”Ex’s” with its R&B pop flare further displays her on-going artistic evolution. Mixed by Josh Gudwin (Justin Bieber), she co-wrote the track with Ryan Stewart and Tavish Crowe (Carly Rae Jepsen), intensifying its powerful pop prowess. About the temptation of things that can lead to poor decisions, the single has an edge to it that showcases confidence while Penalva sings the bold lyrics with sultry vocals, pulling it from the usual confines of pop.
“I wrote Ex’s about how temptation can be exciting and thrilling but ultimately can lead us to make destructive decisions with serious consequences” Penalva said. “The heart can lead us to places where we hurt others, even if we don’t mean to and the mind tells us otherwise. It is a cheeky and edgy song that sheds light on what it’s like to be the person hurting someone they care about while falling for someone they didn’t know they ever wanted.”
The lyric video keeps this meaning alive with animated lips and neon people kissing, tying in the bright, fun elements that match up with the beat with the dark, daring aspects that resemble the chorus lyrics “tonight I’m kissing my ex best friend’s ex boyfriend.” The boldness makes the song exhilarating and the lyric video does a great job matching that sexy energy with its bad girl allure.
Watch the lyric video below.
Speaking on the video, Penalva shares:
“Since this song is all about kissing someone that doesn’t belong to you, I wanted this video to include the cheeky elements such as the lips and the kissing couple to highlight the concept of how temptation can be fun but can also take you too far. The team who created this video spent countless hours perfecting every detail and did such an amazing job bringing my vision to life. I think my favourite part is the contrast from bright and pink to dark and glowy that happens when the chorus hits. It is such a creative video and truly reflects my personality. I love every detail incorporated and hope everyone else loves it as well.”
The 21-year old’s new music and video follows the 2020 success of “Love Me,” which received over 38 million TikTok views and 1.2 million streams of the single alone. It was the second most added at CHR Mediabase, charting at #17 on pop radio. It helped her break through Billboard’s Hot 100 and Canada’s Emerging Artist chart penetration. Already making her mark globally to viewers of American Idol and America’s Got Talent for her cover song performances in 2019 and 2020, Penalva is not holding back as she keeps new content rolling out over the next year. Make sure to stay tuned for what more’s to come because we know she’s going nowhere but to the top!
Stream “Ex’s” here.
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